Veterinary Medical Director

Veterinary Medical Director (Veterinarian)

Spay & Neuter Clinic / Veterinary Services

Chief Operating Officer

Exempt

Hiring Range: $190,000 - $215,000 per year

The Sacramento SPCA is a vibrant, well-established, and respected non-profit animal welfare organization. Through our nationally ranked high-volume spay and neuter clinic (we are ranked as one of the top 10 clinics in the country!), successful adoption program, surrender support and deferment programs and a commitment to excellent animal care, the Sacramento SPCA is giving more than shelter and saving animals one life at a time.

The Veterinary Medical Director (VMD) provides strategic, clinical, and operational leadership for all veterinary services within the animal shelter, including high-level oversight of the Shelter Medicine Department, the High-Quality High-Volume Spay/Neuter (HQHVSN) Clinic, and Vaccine/Wellness services. This role ensures the delivery of high-quality, humane, and evidence-based veterinary care while supporting organizational mission, regulatory compliance, staff development, and optimal animal outcomes.

The Veterinary Medical Director serves as the senior veterinary authority for the organization, reporting directly to the Chief Operating Officer and partnering closely with shelter department managers to align medical programs with shelter operations to meet community needs and exceptional patient care.

• Provide expert clinical guidance and final decision-making authority for complex, non-routine, or high-risk medical and surgical cases.
• Establish, approve, and periodically review medical, surgical, anesthesia, vaccination, treatment, biosecurity, and recordkeeping protocols across all veterinary programs.
• Ensure consistent standards of care while supporting program-specific efficiency and innovation.

• Provide immediate medical oversight of HQHVSN operations, including surgical technique, anesthesia and analgesia protocols, patient flow, infection control, and post-operative care.
• Lead by example through regular hands-on surgical practice, performing a minimum of 50 spay/neuter procedures per week using high-quality, high-volume techniques with low complication rates.
• Monitor surgical outcomes, complication rates, and quality assurance metrics to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensure appropriate staffing models, training, and competency of veterinarians and support staff assigned to spay/neuter services.
• Collaborate with clinic leadership to optimize efficiency, safety, and animal welfare in high-volume surgical environments.

• Provide direct medical oversight of high-volume vaccine clinics and community wellness services.
• Ensure safe, efficient delivery of preventive and access-to-care services, including appropriate vaccine handling, documentation, and client communication.
• Oversee access-to-care veterinary programs to ensure services are medically appropriate, ethically delivered, and aligned with community needs and organizational capacity.
• Support development and refinement of scalable clinic models that expand access while maintaining medical quality.

• Provide high-level medical oversight of shelter medicine operations, including intake processes, population health management, infectious disease prevention, and outbreak response.
• Partner with shelter medicine leadership to support data-driven improvements in animal health outcomes, length of stay, and live-release rates.
• Ensure shelter medicine policies align with…